Single scan PC-MRI by alternating the velocity encoding gradient polarity between phase encoding steps.

Area of Science:

• Medical Imaging
• Physics
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Phase contrast magnetic resonance imaging (PC-MRI) is crucial for quantifying blood flow and tissue motion.
• Traditional PC-MRI techniques can be time-consuming, limiting their clinical applicability.
• Faster imaging methods are needed to improve patient comfort and throughput.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a novel, accelerated phase contrast magnetic resonance imaging technique.
• To introduce "single scan phase contrast" (SSPC) as a method to reduce acquisition time.
• To demonstrate the feasibility of SSPC for velocity quantification.

Main Methods:

• Proposed a new imaging scheme: single scan phase contrast (SSPC).
• SSPC alternates velocity-encoding gradient polarity within phase-encoding steps.
• Ghost images are utilized for velocity quantification after careful field-of-view configuration.

Main Results:

• SSPC reduces total acquisition time by up to a factor of two compared to conventional PC-MRI.
• The signal intensity of ghost images is modulated by the motion-induced phase shift.
• Velocity quantification was successfully validated against standard PC-MRI in both phantom and in vivo studies.

Conclusions:

• Single scan phase contrast (SSPC) offers a significant acceleration of phase contrast MRI acquisition.
• SSPC provides accurate velocity quantification, comparable to conventional methods.
• This technique has the potential to improve the efficiency and utility of flow imaging in clinical settings.